New in Theaters October 07: Pan, The Walk Expands Wide

A lot of fireworks lately as Matt Damon and The Martian almost set a new October record. I don't think that's going to be broken this weekend - which is too bad, because one of the new films opening this weekend also shares the honor of being the most expensive film to open in this particular month. Not that I think it's going to help his chances as I fully expect The Martian to repeat as the top film, and competition from the likes of Sicario, The Walk and Hotel Transylvania 2 aren't going to back down, either. We'll see how things stack up, but we should be looking at another above-average weekend.

PAN Well, I will say one thing about Pan, it sure isn't lacking in ambition. A prequel to the Peter Pan we all know, Levi Miller plays the young Peter before he became the boy who wouldn't grow up. Hugh Jackman is aboard as Blackbeard while Garrett Hedlund plays Hook (not quite captain, yet). Rooney Mara is Tiger Lily (who many became up-in-arms over for "whitewashing" the character) while Nonso Anozie, Amanda Seyfried, and Cara Delevingne help round out the cast. The cast is fine, but its the reported $150 million budget that is truly impressive. The problem with Pan is that the family-friendly film should have come out over summer - in October (against the well-received Hotel Transylvania 2) it is an odd duck. Plus, early reviews are tending toward negative - it has plenty of spectacle but little heart. Pan will probably do decent business, but it's going to need a lot of help in the international market just to break even - because I certainly know it's not going to make it domestically. We'll see how this plays out, but I have a feeling it's going to open well under expectations and could be one of the bigger disappointments of the year.

Besides Pan, The Walk gets out of IMAX-only screens and opens wide. We'll see if it does better than Everest - it will have to in order to recoup what amounted to a rather lackluster opening. I'll see you back on Sunday with the full breakdown.